Sapling

Abstract

A permanent sculpture commissioned by Penarth Learning Community for St Cyres High School, Penarth. Initially beginning as a small scale engagement project with the students the opportunity arose to create a permanent sculpture that could act as memorial, in part to replace a lost WW1 roll of Honour from the school when it was refurbished. Working with students over a period of 6 months to discuss issues around war and memorials the sculpture became about acting as a memorial in the widest possible way. A young tree planted as a memorial that will be frozen in time at that point of ‘planting’. Memorial trees are a regularly used way of marking someone’s life, a lost one. Young lives, that had potential, had somewhere to go, but were stopped short.

The lightness of touch in the memorial is a common thread through my work, very little is seemingly done to the sculptures that I make, but the smallness of scale, or the human scale, being used in the memorial is particular significant for me to avoid any attempts at the glorification of war, but rather a celebration of the courage and

bravery shown and given by the boys. I hope it will act a suitable memorial for the school to commerate the lives lost and be a poignant place to use annually as a place to mark respect.